Baseball Game Preview: St. Pius X Sartans vs. Valencia Jaguars

St. Pius X is 9-1 against Valencia since April of 2019 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Sartans will venture away from home to face off against the Jaguars at 6:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (St. Pius X has three straight wins, Valencia has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

St. Pius X is headed into the contest having just posted their closest victory since March 20th on Friday. They had just enough and edged out Grants 3-1.

Hunter Jiron

Base on Balls Against

03/15/25 vs Volcano Vista	5
03/20/25 vs Albuquerque Academy	4
03/25/25 @ Los Lunas	2
04/04/25 vs Grants	1
03/29/25 vs Albuquerque Academy	1

Hunter Jiron spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on one hit and racked up seven Ks. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because St. Pius X is 2-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 7-9 otherwise.

On the hitting side, St. Pius X's win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Jax Mulville, who went 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Valencia challenged Deming on Friday. The Jaguars lost 11-0 to the Wildcats. The matchup marked the first time this year in which the Jaguars were not able to get on the board.

St. Pius X pushed their record up to 9-10 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.8 runs over those games. As for Valencia, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-10.

St. Pius X took their victory against Valencia when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 17-3 score. Do the Sartans have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Jaguars turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.